A world record for traveling coast-to-coast across the U.S. in an electric vehicle was just set by an electric motorcycle, the Moto-Electra, which covered the distance in just 84.5 hours, without swapping out its battery.

The bike used for the record is the same design used by Moto-Electra for Grand Prix racing and land speed attempts, and this new achievement goes a long way toward showing the possibilities for long-distance travel with electric vehicles.

“The funny thing is .. when we said we could do this, many said it was impossible,” said Richardson. “Already people are saying that it was easy and anyone could do it. I think that was the whole point — to change perceptions.” – Brian Richardson, team manager

Thad Wolff, a former AMA PRO, rode the motorcycle for the record crossing, and monitoring and data-gathering for all the details of the ride were captured by supporting personnel from James Madison University.

“The motorcycle itself performed beautifully. The batteries were rock solid and the heat and rain were not a factor. We could have done it faster, but we wanted to be safe. If we were to do it again, we would travel farther between charges, and increase the speed a bit — something learned.” – Richardson

Will Hays, a sophomore at James Madison University, was the point man for data, and the team noted that “He was exceptional”.

“With a laptop and other equipment, this student captured data every second – things like wind speed/direction, volts, amps, temperature, GPS location/speed/elevation. If you wanted to start installing charging stations across the U.S., Will has the database.”

While Moto-Electra wasn’t the only Electric Cannonball Run attempt, they did end up with the fastest time (so far!). The trip was sponsored or supported by IceWarp, Inc, StarkPower, James Madison University, Manzanita Micro Chargers, Virginia Urology, Freedom Solutions Group, Virginia Association of Electric Cooperatives, Cardo Systems, Dunlop Tires, Vanson Leathers, High Performance Electric Vehicle Systems, Race Tech, BST Wheels and Brocks Performance.

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